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Andrew was a little boy who didn't have anyone to play with. When a scruffy ginger cat arrives at his house, Andrew wants to play helicopters and acrobats with her, but he's too rough. The author has twice won the NSW Premier's Award for the best children's book.

About The Author

Pamela Allen is a published author and an illustrator of children's books. Some of the published credits of Pamela Allen include Share Said the Rooster, Grandpa and Thomas, Brown Bread and Honey, and Daisy Allsorts.

The big boy next door has a big dog named Lobo, but Andrew has no one to play with. He welcomes a stray cat with altogether too much glee ("Let's play wild Indians and you can be the horse"); the cat bolts. A daunting attempt to play with the obstreperous Lobo gives Andrew a salutary taste of the cat's feelings; when she creeps back that night, he welcomes her gently and the two make friends. The message here is presented nicely in the events, which this prize-winning Australian conveys in a nicely compact text sparked with graphic words like "gallumphed" and in wonderfully expressive illustrations. Sturdy little Andrew is the image of his plump, comfortable mother, who has the same irrepressible gleam in her eye; his relentless activity is reiterated in each deftly observed posture. A perfect blend of text and pictures to make an entertaining story. (Kirkus Reviews)

Pamela Allen is a phenomenon in the world of children's literature. For almost thirty years her picture books have enchanted generations of children in Australia and overseas and many of her titles have won prestigious awards and commendations. She has earned classic status through the enduring popularity of her stories with the very young.

Pamela's books are full of the music of language; they are 'fragments of theatre', designed to be read aloud and shared between an adult and a child. Eight of Pamela's titles were adapted for the stage by Patch Theatre Company, an Grandpa and Thomas won the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award: Early Childhood and The Potato People was named an Honour Book in the same category in 2003, and Grandpa and Thomas and the Green Umbrella was shortlisted for the same award in 2007, as was Shhh! Little Mouse in 2008. Is Your Grandmother a Goanna? won a 2008 Speech Pathology of Australia Book of the Year Award, as did Our Daft Dog Danny in 2010.